''Dungeon Explorer'' is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

co-developed by

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...

and

Westone Westone is an American manufacturer of custom earpieces for the hearing healthcare market, hearing protection products, custom communications earpieces, clinical and audiological supplies, musicians hearing protection and in-ear monitors for p ...

and published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

in North America in May 1995 exclusively for the

Sega CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

and later in Europe by Hudson Soft the same year. The third installment in the eponymous franchise, it shares the same name as with 1989's '' Dungeon Explorer'' but is not a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

of any previous entry and is very different from other titles in the series. Taking place in a

fantasy world A fantasy world is a world created for/from fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds involve magic or magical abilities, nonexistent technology and, sometimes, either a historical or futuristic theme. Some wor ...

where a powerful evil being known as the Darkling holds a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

under captivity in his residing

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, players assume the role of one of the six playable

main character A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

s to complete a number of

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

s in order to defeat the Darkling and free the goddess, who will grant any wish to those capable of challenging her captor. ''Dungeon Explorer'' on Sega CD was met with mostly positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its release, though many publications felt mixed in regards to several aspects such as the graphics, audio, gameplay and

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

, with some noting its similarities with '' Gauntlet''.

Gameplay

''Dungeon Explorer'' on the Sega CD is an action role-playing game with

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

and

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

elements that is played in a

top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

like its predecessors, where players assume the role of one of the six playable characters and complete a series of six dungeons, each one hosting a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

at the end that must be fought before progressing any further, in order to free the goddess of ambition from her captivity at the tower of an evil being known as the Darkling.''Dungeon Explorer'' manual (Sega CD, US) Each character belongs to a specific class and their abilities vary primarily in their statistics, however, the game now supports up to four players simultaneously via

multitap :''Multi-tap also refers to a text-entry system for mobile phones.'' A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be used in play, similar t ...

unlike previous entries. The game supports

game save A saved game (also called a game save, savegame, savefile, save point, or simply save) is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. From the earliest games in the 1970s onward, game platform hardw ...

with either the Sega CD's internal backup

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

or the CD BackUp RAM

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

Synopsis

''Dungeon Explorer'' on the Sega CD takes place in a fantasy world where a powerful evil being known as the Darkling resided in an impenetrable tower, taking what he desired from humans who approached near his location and killing those who looked at him, staking his victims as a sign of warning for those who reached the tower. However the Darkling feared humankind, knowing that he would be challenged for his lands and one enemy equally matched his power; the goddess of ambition, who could grant any wish to those capable of performing her bidding. The Darkling captured the goddess and threw her at his tower's dungeon, with the goddess waiting to be free from her captivity and grant any wish to her liberator. Rumors of the goddess and the fate of adventurers who went missing began, with more people arriving at the Jojo

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

and telling about their past adventures before departing to the tower.

Development and release

''Dungeon Explorer'' on the Sega CD was co-developed by Hudson Soft and Westone, the latter company being best known for the '' Wonder Boy/Monster World'' franchise, with additional support from Sega. Most of the development team at Westone were previously involved with several entries in the ''Wonder Boy/Monster World'' series, with co-founder Ryuichi Nishizawa and Hideo Nakajima serving as co-

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

s, while Bill Rich served as producer at Hudson Soft. Takanori Kurihara and Westone co-founder Michishito Ishizuka acted as

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

s, while Nishizawa and Nakajima also served as

level designer In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

s alongside Kōta Kikuchi and Yutaka Hirata. Nakajima was also involved as

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

with Katsuo Saito, Mina Morioka, Rieko Sumi and Takai Sekiyama, who were responsible for the

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

. The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

was co-composed by Jin Watanabe and Shinichi Sakamoto, with Sakamoto also being responsible for

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s and voicework alongside Nakajima and Watanabe. The game was first published in North America by Sega in May 1995 and later in Europe by Hudson Soft on the same year.

Reception

'' Next Generation'' reviewed the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "the title isn't groundbreaking, but most of the puzzles are clever, and the variety and challenge will keep your interest high".

References

External links

''Dungeon Explorer''
at

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''Dungeon Explorer''
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungeon Explorer (1995 video game) 1995 video games Action role-playing video games Cooperative video games Hudson Soft games Multiplayer and single-player video games Role-playing video games Sega CD games Sega CD-only games Sega video games Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games developed in Japan Westone Bit Entertainment games